If you can't afford advice, here are 10 top tips for DIY investing

8. Spread risk with the financial equivalent of a balanced diet

Diminish the risk inherent in DIY investment by diversifying to reduce your
exposure to setbacks or failure at any one company or country. Andrew Ross,
chief executive of Cazenove Capital Management, explained: "Try to
maintain the financial equivalent of a balanced diet, so that your portfolio
is not all facing in the same direction and thus all vulnerable to the same
set of circumstances.

"This approach has served investors well during the difficult period we
are living through."